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Posted on 02/12/2006 3:16:03 PM PST by NYer
Dr. Raed Mualem, head of the Mar Elias University Campus in Ibillin, has called on the Vatican to become more involved in the needs of the Christian Arab community in Israel.
"We are a dying congregation," he said, explaining that "one of the reasons is that the state neglected the community's needs for decades, and so we are demanding a human 'nature preservation.'"
Mualem returned several days ago from a visit to the Vatican as a member of a small delegation that met with representatives to the assembly of organizations for aid to the Eastern churches, which includes 130 cardinals and bishops from around the world and is headquartered at the Vatican. The assembly discusses urgent topics concerning Catholic churches in the Middle East, including Israel, and occasionally supports projects for the Israeli congregation.
Mualem said this involvement has barely been felt in the region. "Christianity began in the Galilee, not in Rome or Paris, but over the years the facts have been blurred to such a degree that the Christian Arab congregation in the Galilee has become completely inconsequential. There is no direct contact between the West and the congregation that is supposed to constitute a bridge to peace and tolerance. The pilgrims come to Israel to visit churches and sites, but we the living stones are not on their agenda, and with the disregard or poor treatment by the Israeli establishment, this congregation is gradually losing strength and even numbers as the waves of migration to the West continue."
According to Mualem's data, the migration rate among Christian Arabs is 25 percent, and Christian Arabs in Israel will constitute a mere 0.4 of the population by 2020, down from 1.7 percent today.
Mualem attended the assembly accompanied by Father Maher Abud, the parish priest of St. George's Catholic Church in Maghar. The Christian congregation of Maghar held special prayers on Saturday to mark a year since the clashes with Druze that damaged Christians' property and caused many to leave. Abud spoke at length about the social and political reasons that led to violence, and presented a dismal view of Israel's failure to protect its minority citizens and slowness in bringing the offenders to justice and compensating the victims.
The crisis facing the congregation did not begin last year, Mualem said, but the events at Maghar underscored and exposed them. He whipped out a pamphlet containing a proposal, submitted to the Prime Minister's Office in June 2004, for strengthening the Christian Arab congregation. Mualem presented the highlights of this proposal at the Vatican. Demands include direct support for congregation institutions, beginning with local authorities, support for private hospitals, schools, the Mar Elias Campus and plans to found a university near the Western Galilee Christian village Mailia, building a Christian Arab cultural center, setting up television and radio stations, a high-tech center to develop pharmaceutical drugs for export to Third World countries, and a forum for bolstering tourist and other ties to the Christian world.
"Projects of this sort ensure a better future not only for Christians but for the entire Israeli Arab population," Mualem said. "If the government isn't interested, then there's no doubt the Vatican has something to contribute."
Detailed responses from the Vatican are expected around June. Archbishop Pietro Sambi, reassigned from Israel recently as the Papal Nuncio to the U.S., has expressed support for Mualem's ideas, particularly for a Christian Arab forum and media outlets.
While this diversity within the one Catholic Church can appear confusing at first, it in no way compromises the Church's unity. In a certain sense, it is a reflection of the mystery of the Trinity. Just as God is three Persons, yet one God, so the Church is 22 Churches, yet one Church.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church summarizes this nicely:
"From the beginning, this one Church has been marked by a great diversity which comes from both the variety of God's gifts and the diversity of those who receive them... Holding a rightful place in the communion of the Church there are also particular Churches that retain their own traditions. The great richness of such diversity is not opposed to the Church's unity" (CCC no. 814).
Although there are 22 Churches, there are only eight "Rites" that are used among them. A Rite is a "liturgical, theological, spiritual and disciplinary patrimony," (Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, canon 28). "Rite" best refers to the liturgical and disciplinary traditions used in celebrating the sacraments. Many Eastern Catholic Churches use the same Rite, although they are distinct autonomous Churches. For example, the Ukrainian Catholic Church and the Melkite Catholic Church are distinct Churches with their own hierarchies. Yet they both use the Byzantine Rite.
To learn more about the "two lungs" of the Catholic Church, visit this link:
The Vatican II Council declared that "all should realize it is of supreme importance to understand, venerate, preserve, and foster the exceedingly rich liturgical and spiritual heritage of the Eastern churches, in order faithfully to preserve the fullness of Christian tradition" (Unitatis Redintegrato, 15).
To locate an Eastern Catholic Church in your community, follow the following link:
Eastern Catholic Churches in the U.S.
A Roman rite Catholic may attend any Eastern Catholic Liturgy and fulfill his of her obligations at any Eastern Catholic Parish. A Roman rite Catholic may join any Eastern Catholic Parish and receive any sacrament from an Eastern Catholic priest, since all belong to the Catholic Church as a whole. I am a Roman Catholic practicing my faith at a Maronite Catholic Church. Like the Chaleans, the Maronites retain Aramaic for the Consecration. It is as close as one comes to being at the Last Supper.
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Ping!
Well done!
They seem to have all the pc phrases down pat.
Which ones?
Prays for newly-appointed Archbishop Chacour and the Christians of the Holy Land.
I think Archbishop Chacour founded Mar Elias University (cited in the article).
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1575404/posts
Where is Pat Robertson when you need him? lol. He cares so much about the Jews in the state of Israel, but he doesn't give a damn about Arab Christians.
As a Melkite, I find my co-religionists caught between two worlds.
Why would Christians go to the "State" for their needs?
"There is no direct contact between the West and the congregation that is supposed to constitute a bridge to peace and tolerance."
Bridges? Peace and tolerence. Christians need no "bridges"---lefties do.
"He whipped out a pamphlet containing a proposal, submitted to the Prime Minister's Office in June 2004, for strengthening the Christian Arab congregation. Mualem presented the highlights of this proposal at the Vatican. Demands include direct support for congregation institutions, beginning with local authorities, support for private hospitals, schools, the Mar Elias Campus and plans to found a university near the Western Galilee Christian village Mailia, building a Christian Arab cultural center, setting up television and radio stations, a high-tech center to develop pharmaceutical drugs for export to Third World countries, and a forum for bolstering tourist and other ties to the Christian world.
" "Projects of this sort ensure a better future not only for Christians but for the entire Israeli Arab population," Mualem said. "If the government isn't interested, then there's no doubt the Vatican has something to contribute." Typical leftist shakedown.
In the near and middle east, christians are oppressed. Many of these governments are run by Muslims who seek to enact sharia laws. A christian woman walking down the street without a veil, is chastised and oftentimes persecuted by Muslims for neglecting the commandments of Mohammed.
There is only one country which has been able to establish a compromise by which christians and muslims may co-exist without persecution. That is in Lebanon. Following their civil war in the 70's, the peace pact established a state government whereby the President is always a Maronite Catholic and the Prime Minister is always a Muslim. Despite this, Syrian Muslims have continued to persecute christians and assassinate Lebanese government officials. Their only appeal is to the government, to protect them.
In Saudia Arabia, NO christian churches may be built. Christians practice their faith underground. It is difficult for us in the West to imagine such a society. Those christians who have fled to the West, seeking religious freedom are now being confronted with similar problems. In Canada, for example, there is now talk of enacting sharia laws for the Moslems, to appease their religious views. Many of these women are crying foul since they have risked life and limb to escape similar persecution in the Middle East.
Ditto .. as a Maronite. It is painful for our Patriarch to witness the emigration of Maronites to the diaspora. However, as a result, the Maronite Church is now the 2nd largest of the Eastern Catholic Churches. They have established eparchies on nearly all of the continents and their ranks are growing as more and more Roman Catholics discover the beauty of their liturgy. Perhaps, this is all part of God's plan to ensure the existence and growth of the Eastern Catholic Churches.
Chacour did found the Mar Elias University. We met him in 1999 when we were in the Holy Land. A passionate man doing the Lord's work. He is Archbishop now?? I didn't see that in the article, did I? Amazing. Not amazing, he will be perfect.
It is a wonderful vision he has, complex he is building there. I bet the Church can help. His vision is to have Arab, Christian, Muslim children growing up together, learning together, studying together. An amazing plan for the Holy Land.
Are you claiming oppression by Israel? Because that is the country this article refers to.
Christian Israelis, be they Arab, Armenian, Greek, or Latin are undeniably second class citizens. The Christian Arabs -- especially the stateless ones in the Territories -- are particularly targets of official oppression, being lumped in with Muslim Arabs in the matter of travel restrictions, land expropriation, etc. Christians get a rotten deal everywhere in the Middle East.
""We are a dying congregation," he said, explaining that "one of the reasons is that the state neglected the community's needs for decades, and so we are demanding a human 'nature preservation.'"
If they are dying it is because the Holy Spirit is not at work in their midst. Period. Endo of story.
Where the Holy Spirit is, He brings life.
"Christian Israelis, be they Arab, Armenian, Greek, or Latin are undeniably second class citizens."
Christians and Arabs in Israel have full citizenship and full rights. Please explain what you are talking about.
Don't confuse absence of the Holy Spirit with persecution. God, in his unfathomable mystery, has permitted periodic persecution of the Christian Church at various stages through history. Although death sometimes appears to be imminent, it is usually simply a precursor to new and abundant growth of the Church. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that persecution has been a prerequisite for every major advance of the Church, through history.
Like Christ's own death which preceded His resurrection, the apparent death of the Christian Church is invariably followed by a glorious resurrection. Numbers may dwindle and all seem lost but the eyes of faith never lose hope.
The advance of the Gospel does not always follow an exponential curve.
On that subject, I'm not sure I'd classify the state of the Christian Church in the Middle East in general and Israel in particular as "relative peace", either. Sure, Christians are not sent to a gulag but neither do they enjoy a normal existence. Trapped between a Jewish state on the one hand, and Hamas on the other, they are truly a forgotten second-class minority.
As the article states, Christians are migrating. Leaving. They're not abandoning their faith, note. Just going elsewhere to live.
A natural human tendency when there is a possibility of a better life.
This is a different kettle of fish from what's happening in much of the West, where people are abandoning their faith.
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